19 March 2015

"Apple will get young people used to wearing a watch," Tag Heuer CEO CEO Jean-Claude Biver recently told Reuters, "and later maybe they will want to buy themselves a real watch." Could today be the day we see Tag Heuer's "real watch" answer to the rise of the smartwatch?

Reuters is reporting that the luxury Swiss watch maker is teaming up with computing giants Intel to work on a timepiece capable of holding its own against the connected devices currently vying for a place on our wrists. Capable of tracking geolocation, altitude and distance walked, it won't have quite the range of abilities that other smartwatches have. But Tag Heuer's watch will have one key advantage; it'll look just like it's sweet, "proper" original black Carrera (one of the brand's most iconic designs), pictured above.

While Tag Heuer will make the traditional watch components itself in Switzerland, all the smart internals will come courtesy of Intel, which will produce chips and apps for the timepiece in Silicon Valley.

Though the smartwatch and luxury watch may seem like chalk and cheese at the moment and mostly aimed at very different consumers, Apple's £8,000 gold Edition variant has shaken up that paradigm slightly. In the consumer tech space, Apple has the same luxury appeal that those hunting down a Rolex crave. It's obscenely expensive smartwatch brings with it the exclusivity that the super-rich crave, so it's understandable that Tag Heuer would want to sure up its defences — particularly after losing top staff to Apple.

The Tag Heuer/Intel smartwatch is expected to be revealed later today. We'll keep you posted on what it offers if it does indeed appear.

18 March 2015

In what may turn out to be an historic move in the battle against piracy, Microsoft's Terry Myerson has announced that the software vendor will allow all customers — whether they're running genuine Windows software or a pirated version — to upgrade to Windows 10 for free.

The move is clearly targeted at the Chinese market, where two-thirds of all PCs run pirated versions of Windows. Speaking to Reuters, Myerson said:

"We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10," he said in a telephone interview with Reuters. The plan is to "re-engage" with the hundreds of millions of users of Windows in China, he said, without elaboration.

By giving away Windows 10 for free, at least for the first year, Microsoft is deviating from its regular sales model for the first time. The software maker announced earlier today that Windows 10 will be launching this summer in 190 countries, with the vendor focusing its attention on China.

Lenovo has committed to rolling out the Windows 10 upgrade to its customers as soon as it becomes available, as well as stating that it would launch its first Windows Phone over the summer.

The Redmond giant also inked a deal with Chinese internet portal Tencent in bringing popular games such as League of Legends to the Windows 10 store. Tencent has stated that it will also be working to roll out the Windows 10 update as soon as possible.

Xiaomi’s explosive growth has relied heavily on Android so far, but the company seems to be open to alternatives. Over the following months, “select Xiaomi Mi 4 power users” will be given the opportunity to test the new Windows 10 and provide feedback to Microsoft.

Microsoft announced the arrival of Windows 10 (for PCs, tablets, and smartphones) in a blog postpublished yesterday. The announcement includes a section dedicated to partnerships with Chinese companies, including Lenovo, Tencent, Qihu 360, and… Xiaomi. The inclusion of the Mi company is surprising, given that Xiaomi has never expressed interest in Microsoft before.

In a statement to TechCrunch, Microsoft alluded that this test program is just the beginning of stronger ties with Xiaomi, which is apparently “embracing” Windows 10.

For its part, Xiaomi was careful to emphasize that it’s not jumping in bed with Microsoft just yet. “This is an experimental program entirely led by Microsoft, and we are happy that Mi fans with Mi 4 devices in China will be able to participate and provide feedback,” the company told The Next Web.

Some clarification comes from the wildly popular Mi forums. According to this post from moderator Bughinirari, Xiaomi will not manufacture phones with Windows 10, but it will allow Microsoft to provide a Windows 10 ROM for the Mi 4, along with support for users who decide to switch to Windows. It looks like Windows 10 will become a second, semi-official operating system for the Mi 4, with Microsoft handling support.

This is an interesting development, to say the least, though we probably shouldn’t be surprised that Xiaomi is willing to experiment. After all, MIUI OS has little to do with Google, at least in China, where Google’s services aren’t available (for now). With that said, Xiaomi is shipping with the Play Store in other countries and the company’s Hugo Barra (a former Googler himself) was emphatic about Xiaomi’s respect for Google.

It’s possible (and likely, given Microsoft’s tiny footprint in mobile) that Xiaomi is simply going along with this for the sake of experimentation. Also, Microsoft has been known to offer financial incentives to partners, and that may be a factor at play here. After all, Xiaomi’s is doing relatively little money, even if it’s a top five smartphone company by shipments.

This could also be the start of something bigger, though even if Xiaomi ends up shipping Windows devices, Android will probably remain its workhorse for the foreseeable future.

After shutting down Google Answers service by Google, which was a very great service. The gate was open for newcomers, where Microsoft decided to establish its new beta service "Bing Distill". Until now you need to Request an Invitation to Join.

16 March 2015

Apple Watch: Apple’s new failure?

Earlier this week I listed five reasons why the Apple Watch will succeed, and now I'm back to look at the glass half-empty. The device is sure to sell like gangbusters out of the gate, but to achieve long-term success, Apple needs to find solutions to the following problems.

1. It lacks a defining must-have feature

The iPod promised a thousand songs in your pocket; the iPad packed the most popular functions of a PC into a portable package; and the iPhone brought smartphones out of the BlackBerry age. Apple's biggest products have been disruptive and transformative - but can we say the same about the Apple Watch? It does a lot of things, but nothing that can't already be done on another device. Apple Watch seems to hold a slight advantage in tracking health and fitness data, but the point is there's no single feature that marketers can use to define the product as unique or necessary.

2. It needs an iPhone

Anyone who doesn't own a newish iPhone can't use an Apple Watch. This is a significant limitation, because even though millions of people have iPhones, competing handsets make up the majority of the market. Apple's biggest products have always broadened its audience, but the Apple Watch seems confined to the company's current customers. A PC user might still buy an iPad, and someone with a Samsung tablet might still pick a MacBook, but zero Android users will own an Apple Watch.

3. People don't wear watches anymore

I wore a watch for years, but quit when I got used to pulling out my iPhone all the time. I suspect that's pretty common - who really needs a watch on their wrist in addition to the one in their pocket? This won't be a big issue for those who never gave up on the wristwatch, but many others may need convincing that Apple Watch is worth the hassle.

4. It's yet another gadget to carry

Our pockets, purses and backpacks are bursting with digital devices these days, from mobile phones and tablets to health trackers and handheld game systems. At the very least, every Apple Watch user will also carry an iPhone. More than ever, a product really has to earn a spot on our person, and as I said above, the Apple Watch doesn't appear to add anything decisively new or essential to the mix.

5. It'll be pricey

The entry-level Apple Watch is expected to go for $350 - that's $150 more than an entry-level iPhone 6 with contract. The extra cost makes sense when you compare the breadth and richness of its features and functions with those of lesser smartwatches, but $350 is still $350. With no clear, defining reason to own one, many could view the device as nice but not necessary. The price tag is where the rubber meets the road, and if Apple hasn't addressed its product's deficiencies in other categories, the high cost could be too much to overcome.

Apple has released iOS 8.2 which aims to bring a lot of features and bug fixes. And this update should be good news to people who have been having issues with the previous iOS 8.1.3. But what about jailbroken Apple devices?

For folks who have jailbroken their devices (presumably the ones running on iOS 8.1) it is advisable to stay away from the latest updates. This was the message that had apparently been relayed since iOS 8.1.3 and iOS 8.2 are said to be unjailbreakable - at least for now.

Apparently iOS 8.1.3 was able to patch the TaiG iOS 8 jailbreak and such is carried over to the latest iOS 8.2 update. Among the things that were fixed include security vulnerabilities.

However, if these claims from the TaiG Jailbreak team are true, a jailbreak could be available soon for the iOS 8.2. This despite earlier warnings from Jailbreak developer MuscleNerd who warned jailbreakers not to mess with the iOS 8.2 jailbreak.

An iOS 8.2 beta 1 and 2 are said to be already available. Hence, despite claims that iOS 8.2 is not jailbreakable it seems that certain exploits have not yet been fully patched. And this seems to be the case in point for the TaiG team who were able to pinpoint the exploits to jailbreak iOS 8.2.

iOS 8.2 was actually something geared for Apple's newest device the Apple Watch slated to be released on April 24.

For other Apple devices, the only thing you may find new is the Apple Watch support. And unless you do plan to get one, such could be rendered useless unless you do have plans of getting the Apple wearable.